Collision of Darkness
by MyChemicalBetrayal
Summary: An accident sends Abel, Esther, and members of the Rosenkreuz Orden into the distant past where they encounter a certain caped crusader. They must battle to save the future. Intended for TB readership.
1. Prologue

Esther waited patiently for the deal to be conducted. She didn't understand the language Dietrich spoke and continued to suffer from a dull, but pulsing headache. She and Dietrich were trying to conduct some sort of deal with this "Joecker" character who really looked more like a bad clown than anything else. His hair was very greasy and he smelled. She tried to scan for movement in the darkness as her beautiful companion worked out the deal. It wasn't as if there was not enough security for the meeting. The clown had brought his own men with automatic weapons and her group had come with super-human automations for defense.

"at-de Carnuvul-drouns?" Her angelic-looking male companion questioned the clown. "Yez" the greasy clown answered with a sly grin. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye near the top of the warehouse from a dark recess between two crates. A clink sounded nearby causing the two parties to look at each other suspiciously for an instant.

BOOM!

The warehouse instantly filled with smoke and chaos erupted from both parties. Shots rang out from the "Joecker's" men as the beautiful young man grabbed Esther by the arm to lead her to an exit as he yelled at two of the autojagers to guard their retreat.

Esther coughed on the smoke and a voice rang out from the darkness "I'm coming for you Esther!" Confused and frightened, she looked back and saw nothing but smoke as she ran with the angelic man out the door. More shots fired and two of the autojagers charged into the smoke towards the voice with an inhuman yell. Adrenaline surged through her veins as she tried to keep up with the young man now holding her hand leading her forward. She heard a faint cry and the guns stopped firing. A few seconds later she heard the clang of a blade . The young man with tea-colored eyes tugged her forwards as she struggled to keep up and directed her towards a ladder. She glanced back and saw the second autojager trailing behind and further behind a pair of blood-red eyes.

She climbed as quickly as she could, two to three rungs at a time, and yanked her shotgun from her side when she was at the top. "Hurry, Dietrich!" She screamed and aimed her gun down the ladder hole. Another scream erupted from the dark pit as the second autojager engaged in combat. No sooner had Dietrich cleared the top of the ladder had the blood-red eyes appeared at the base of the ladder. The moon illuminated the creature's face which was sprayed with blood from its eyes down to its fully fanged mouth. Though it wore a diadem of silver hair, it was clothed in black and held a scythe.

"Esther!" It screamed. She didn't know if she could even defend herself against such a monster so she aimed her shotgun down the man-hole as it started to ascend and fired yelling. It screamed falling a few feet to the bottom. She doubted it would be that effective if it had taken down two of the automations, but she did whatever she could to delay its progress toward her.

_Why is it after me?_ She hurriedly shoved the thought back.

Dietrich tugged her forward once more pulling her into a nearby alley. "Thanks! I think you saved both of our asses back there. That was fast thinking." He panted out as they ran forward then turned down another alley. They ran and ran trying to weave their way through the grey maze of derelict streets and alleys. They finally slowed to a stop so that Dietrich and Esther could catch their breaths. The autojagers never tired.

They were in a tight spot. They couldn't go to anybody for help – well besides who they had had the meeting with. She couldn't remember much, but from what Dietrich had told her, there had been some sort of altercation when they had first arrived in this city and the authorities were hunting for them. So they couldn't go to any populated area, especially with the automated bodyguards since they had been somehow involved. "Are you ready?" Dietrich asked softly.

"Yeah." She responded breathing more deeply.

They walked at a fast pace weaving and winding through the back alleys. She could tell that they were not going straight to their hideout – presumably to take care that that they were not followed. She didn't hear anything behind them, so they were probably fine. A monster like that would probably be noticed, more readily than their automated bodyguards, even in the back alleys.

_Why did it want me? How did it know my name? Is it something that has always been after me? _The thoughts flitted through her head, but she brushed them aside again.

As they made their way back, Esther's head began a slow throb and an uneasy feeling set in. Dietrich kept glancing back and noticed Esther with concern "Are you okay, Esther?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just get this feeling that we are still being followed."

"Let's hole up in a spot where we can watch and wait them out." Dietrich suggested. "Come on." He helped her up onto a creaky fire escape and onto the roof of a building a few stories high. The air was fresher there, and Esther gladly sat down. The last automated bodyguard cleared the roof –

POP!

A dark form swung in and kicked the two automations off the roof into a several story fall. The monster! Esther reached down for her gun as Dietrich gestured with his hands. It was not the same monster as before – it was clothed in black, but had no silver crown, and it moved extremely fast. It's head had long pointed ears which stood straight up and darkness trailed its form – like a bat. She reached for her weapon, but the dark form caught her in the side with its foot before she could raise her weapon. It was hard blow that sent the weapon flying away and her skidding across the dirty roof. She grunted as she stopped, disoriented and in pain. It growled to Dietrich in a guttural language as strings glinted in the moonlight surrounded the attacker.

The strings were Dietrich's power. He used them to attack bind or attack opponents. The bat-creature – no, it was a man – attempted to rotate his bladed gloves around to disrupt the strings. Dietrich brought his hand up into a fist and snapped the strings down sending the Bat-man tumbling to the ground.

Suddenly there was a ringing in her ears and Dietrich stumbled back, shocked. He frantically gestured, but his strings hung limp and unresponsive. The Bat-man slowly rose to its feet and growled something as Dietrich backed away with fear in his eyes.

Ignoring her hammering heart, Esther charged the beast distracting him as Dietrich took out his pistol. She watched for its counter and adjusted her leap. However, she abruptly realized that he was more trained than she because she found herself being vaulted in the air. The landing knocked the air from her lungs as she heard the shot of Dietrich's pistol ring out into the night. She dimly saw the Bat-man tackle Dietrich to the ground and heard the clatter of the gun as it struck the roof-top. It was all going to be over.

Suddenly the Bat-man went flying, hitting the side of the roof entrance to the building. Dietrich's two remaining autojagers moved faster than the eye could follow bearing down on the Bat-man. A flash blinded her and when she could finally see, the Bat-man was gone. Esther and Dietrich slowly got up wincing and quickly made their way off the roof. They ran several miles in the darkness before they stopped to make sure that they were not being followed.

Her head, side, and back ached. But it seemed that those were the least of her problems. There were at least two monsters that hunted her in the night. She didn't know how she could fight them off, but she would at least try.


	2. An Unexpected Stop

Previously:

Between bouts of seasickness, Abel looked out on the ocean deep in thought as the boat drifted toward their destination. It had been very nice to see Seth, and he lamented the shortness of the visit. Still he had things to do with 01 on the loose. Deep down, he knew that 01 had survived…that he was still out there, but it was still shocking to hear. How was he to beat such a foe? Could he really bring himself to kill his own brother? _Again?_ Shadows crossed his wintery blue eyes.

01 had taken everything from him and he threatened the world. How could he play Lillith's part and protect humanity when he couldn't even protect the one he loved most? How would he even do it this time? The airlock had not worked the last time. What would work? _Christ!_ He was thinking about murdering his own brother! He really was a monster. His thoughts returned to Seth and her proposal. She had wanted him to stay. He didn't blame her. Even with the Methuseluh she trusted, she had to be lonely.

But no.

He didn't deserve it. He was a sinner and sinners shouldn't have a life of luxury. Not after what he did. He still needed to get by and allowed himself friends and enough to sustain himself, but not much more. He thought about all the lives he extinguished and how every one of them was priceless. He had taken it all away from them – everything. He remembered that feeling when he had lost Lillith and knew he had caused others that horrible pain. It was terrible of him and he cursed his past self for not listening to Lillith. "She would forgive you, I know she would!" Seth exclaimed. Abel believed Lillith would…perhaps others might too. He had responded "Even if everybody reached out and forgave me, I cannot forgive myself." He was too much of a monster – he was beyond forgiveness and he would not let himself forget that. He should not have been created. His stomach did a slow flip.

His thoughts returned to what to do about 01. It was simple where to start. If 01 was about, he would probably start looking for lost technologies to empower himself. Abel's purpose was clear – he needed to visit as many of the old UN bases that he could and remove or destroy any technologies left. His stomach turned again. Humanity didn't need it now. They would only find themselves in trouble with it later if they had it. It was better that it was destroyed. It was better for humanity to live simply and within its means than to experiment with technology that threatened its own survival. He thought about their immediate destination. If they didn't make the train station on time today, he would have time to slip away – his stomach turned violently, and he dashed to the head before he could complete the thought.

Esther sighed as she leaned on the rail of the ship. She was going to miss Ion and Astha. She hoped she would see them again, someday. They had shown her that real peace was possible between Methuselah and human. If she, a former vampire hater, could learn that those hatreds were just huge misunderstandings. Then hopefully lasting peace could be possible with the Methuselah empire. At the thought of the empire, she thought about Seth and recognized that it went both ways. The methuselah also had to recognize the humanity in Terrans. Seth was - "Eeestheeerr…" can we please buy some sweets when the cart comes by?" the disheveled Father begged. A crease of annoyance lined Esther's face as she responded, "Father, there is a reason why Lady Caterina put me in charge of the finances of this trip. Besides, you are just going to throw it up anyways." The Father looked crestfallen as though he was denied the only thing he ever wanted. He gave a slight whimper and his stomach growled (she swore he could do it on cue). "Oh all right father, as long as you don't spend more than 5 dinars." His expression brightened, "Thank you Esther! I am in your debt" throwing his arms around the small girl in a hug. As she outwardly groaned and pushed him away she smiled – she often saw the father's demons when he thought nobody was looking and she was glad she could make him happy about some small thing.

As the wind buffeted the sails of the ship, Esther sat idly scanning a book that Ion had gifted her before their parting. The Father had enjoyed his sweets, but now claimed to be sicker than ever. She felt like rolling her eyes internally but the sweets were honestly such a small thing. He never understood why people gave him such a hard time about his 13 cubes of sugar or cookies every day. There were much worse vices like abusing drugs or drinking until one was ill. He was even thin, so what did they have to complain about? The call to disembark was made, but the Father looked like he was in no condition to finish his prayer to the porcelain goddess. At this rate they were going to miss their train to Istvan. She guessed she did have something to complain about after all.

After Abel had completed his prayers, they disembarked only to find they had indeed missed the train to Istvan. Esther sighed reminding herself that arriving the next day would not be a problem. She looked through brochures in the train station for a hotel and found one that was located within walking distance. Turning around she found the Father indiscreetly leering at a busty woman buying tickets. Grumbling, she hustled the Father out of the station and hurried to the hotel.

Abel unpacked a few small items from his suitcase at the hotel. He had remembered a small UN base nearby that Tres gathered intelligence on. It was abandoned to all appearences, but a sinister feeling permeated him. He decided to check things out anyways. With the afternoon ahead of him, he had time for a small excursion to investigate.

Abel knocked on Esther's door and the small nun appeared. "Esther, I'm going to be gone for a few hours, so would you please not venture too far from the hotel." An eyebrow raised, "Father, let me go with you this time." Abel smiled "Miss Esther, you would probably be bored if you went with me, so why don't you rest up for our meeting with our super scary boss tomorrow?"

A crease of annoyance began to work its way into Esther's face and she responded "Father, I want to go with you. You always leave me behind. Besides, didn't you say you were in my debt this morning?" casting him an impertinent look. "But-" "Honestly Father, it's an abandoned base, I want to stretch my legs, and the worst thing that we will encounter are probably rats and birds – which I swear, you have worse encounters with than I do." Abel considered, "Alright Miss Esther, as long as you pledge to run at the first sign of trouble. I'll wait at the hotel entrance for you." She brightened and he stepped back tripping on an uneven floorboard nearly sending him sprawling down the stairs. As he righted himself, she commented, "Father you should be more careful and watch where you are going." _Couldn't he catch a break? _

They walked to the edge of town and then paid for a cart ride to an empty field three miles out of town. The road was rough and bumpy, and the Father claimed he knew where they were going. However, she wasn't sure he was paying attention as he spent most of the time leaning over the edge of the cart vomiting from motion sickness. The cart driver looked disgusted and Esther tried to lighten his mood by smiling at him. Abruptly the Father looked up and said "we'll get off here. Please meet us at this spot in two hours." Esther was confused. There was just field all around. The father tried to hop out of the back of the cart but tripped and ended up falling flat on his face. The driver didn't look sympathetic and helped Esther out of the cart.

The cart rolled off into the distance kicking up a trail of dirt and dust while the yellow grain swayed around the priest and the nun in the wind. The father rubbed his nose and gestured for Esther to follow him. They walked for a ways through the field and Esther felt the tall grains brush along her arms and legs breaking and making her itch as she walked. She was going to have to change and clean her habit when she got back. Abruptly the father tripped falling forward onto the ground. Esther also tripped as her foot caught on the half buried broken up asphalt. She got up, and dusted off her scraping her hand.

"Ah, it seems we have found the road." The father said rubbing the nose that he had fallen on. They picked the way along the cracked and broken pavement of the 'road' for around a half hour. Just when Esther was beginning to doubt that they were going to find anything, the "road" abruptly ended giving way to a large area of cracked and broken concrete mostly buried in the grass. She would have said there used to be a large building here, but there was too little left to say for sure.

"How do you know to find these things, Father?" Esther asked. "Oh, well, you see…. I didn't have enough money for the train when I was going back to Rome, so I had to walk." Somehow, Esther didn't think that was entirely unbelievable. "It was so cold and starting to snow…. I thought I was going to die if I didn't find shelter…." He was searching around on the ground for something. "Anyway it was really, really cold and I found…." He suddenly spotted what he was looking for and reached down to the ground to tug on a –"a door leading underground out of the cold. So I stayed at this old military base for the night. They sure knew how to build them."

Esther was skeptical of the story, but she kept her silence as he heaved the old heavy rusty door open. There were stairs that descended into darkness. The father descended down the steps into the darkness and Esther attempted to follow wishing she had vision as good as the Father's.

"Hold on a second, Miss Esther and let me find the – ah! Here it is." There was a loud grinding and the world suddenly became brighter as a power generator was flipped on. The room was extremely dirty and a few broken rusty tools were lying to the side near a concrete wall. There was a large door with a rectangular pad of numbers next to it. The Father regarded the pad of numbers warily and began to try to pry off the casing. There was a maze of wires underneath and she watched in amazement as he delicately sorted through the wires rearranging them until – the large door opened - and then closed scraping and grinding as it did so, the noise booming in the otherwise abandoned base. The door continued to do this on a short interval, so The Father fidgeted with the pad until finally shocking himself and yelping. "Well, it seems that this the best I can do for now – come on." The grinding of the door was loud and unsettling compared to the former silence, but there was no helping it so she followed the Father, skipping nimbly through the door before it closed on her.

Abel crept forward through the dimly lit and dusty hall with Esther trailing behind. The scraping and grinding of the door heightened his tension as he picked through the rubble down the hall. Despite the lighting, the darkness was oppressive. He hoped Esther didn't notice the occasional rust assault rifle and empty ammunition clip lining the edge of the hall. It had been quite a fight the last time he had visited the base, at least for the Terrans.

When they had reached the end of the hall, the lights suddenly flickered and the door grinded shut – not opening again. They were trapped inside. The now still door was suddenly ominous and the silence portentous. Abel's brow furrowed and he couldn't hear anything beyond the now still door. "Father-" Esther drew close.

"Come on, stay close. My hearing is pretty good and I can't hear anything on the other side. These things can happen," Abel offered reassuringly. What he didn't say was that the doors were partially soundproof and that the lights should have ceased with the doors. It was unsettling.

They advanced through the dimly lit base. The dust was thick on the floors and sections of the walls were missing revealing offices that used to have chairs, computers, and people. He hoped that Esther wasn't looking closely enough, but the people were still here, or what was left of them after the base had been initially destroyed – he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. They walked down corridor after corridor turning left, right, going forward, walking back. He was sure Esther was thoroughly lost by now and hoped she wouldn't have to find her way out by herself.

"What are we looking for Father?" She asked looking uncertain. "The Professor was interested in some electronics from the machinery in the back. I agreed to take a look for him, if I had the chance."

The lights suddenly flickered and slowly dimed to nothingness. The darkness was total and the silence deafening. He strained his hearing, but heard nothing. After a few long moments, he could see Esther's outline clearly.

"Miss Esther, " he whispered, suddenly unsure at why he was whispering "I think I can find some small lights to light our way." "How….?" Esther whispered in an equally low and almost frightened voice. He touched her arm and took her hand leading her down the black corridor. The clicking of Esther's boots suddenly seemed very loud to the both of them. He moved down the passage and turned only to find a dead end on his left. A distant creak sounded and the hair raised on the back of his neck. He backtracked down the hall and then turned right down a different hallway. He paused at a metal door at the hallway's end and pushed it open slowly as it creaked.

There were guns in the room, lots of them. Moving over to a bench, he raised the dusty lid coughing and sneezing as he opened it. He reached in and rummaged eventually finding a cylinder in the bottom. _Why are there no rodents here?_ _There should at least be rodents_. His unease increased and he suddenly regretted allowing Esther to come.

He twisted and bent the cylinder activating the gel within. An extremely pale green light illuminated - "AAUUUGGHH" Esther screamed stumbling back. Abel spun reaching for his gun, expecting – a dusty skull. Esther had been facing it when he activated the cylinder. Esther caught her breath "Sorry Father, I didn't mean to scare you." "Aren't I the scariest thing in this room?" Abel's expression suddenly darkened and Esther scowled "I thought I made my thoughts clear about THAT – don't do that Father."

He suddenly heard a faint clicking sound in the distance. Was it a mouse knocking something aside? Esther reached over and pulled a gun out of the rack. "Come on Father, we don't have all day to dally." She walked out of the room. They advanced further into the base weaving up and down corridors and suddenly, Abel saw what he dreaded – footprints. He halted suddenly gesturing to Esther for silence and pointing down at the floor at the footprints. The footprints originated from a corridor that faded to blackness. The darkness down that hall was ominous and foreboding. However, as he glanced at the ceiling the pipes lining it gave him hope. It was a power conduit.

The footprints in the floor followed the path of the power conduit in the ceiling and they eventually found themselves in an open room with doors on all sides. The pipes in the ceiling turned towards the door on the left. The footprints took the same path. He murmered lowly, "Be alert." He reached behind him for his gun and they slowly advanced noiselessly. After a few turns, the corridor began to brighten.

Esther followed the Father quietly as the corridor brightened. This was an unexpectedly creepy place, and she wondered if all the Father's side trips were this unnerving. He always returned unharmed. Mostly. Once he had come back with a long cut on his jacket and on the sleeve of his arm. He had laughed it off attributing his torn clothing to his clumsiness.

They advanced into a room with a console at the end of it, a wall of bright multicolored lights on one side, which turned on and off intermittently, changing position, color and shape. A plain silver wall with a gold circle in the middle was opposite the kinetically colorful wall. A console with blinking lights and buttons stood between the walls. The clean floor in the room contrasted sharply with that of the dusty corridor. Esther looked around warily as the Father approached the console. She watched the dark corridor for a few minutes as the Father studied the console and then began to type.

She tried to be wary, but the colored wall took her attention. The colors shifted and changed blinking on and off as she approached. The bottom left side of the wall lit more brightly as she approached in an ovular shape similar to her body size. She studied it for a moment and raised her hand near the wall. Colors, shapes, and lights changed to outline the path of her hand. The energetic colors were sickening to look at, so she turned away. As she turned back to survey the Father and the dark corridor, movement along a high catwalk near the top of the high room, caught her eye.

Dark shapes moved in the dim light. "Well if it isn't my dearest Esther," a boyish voice called out. "Dietrich!" Esther's hands tightened around her gun and a scowl stained her face. Behind Dietrich appeared a tall man with long black hair. There were autojagers and a couple others she didn't recognize. "What purposes have you twisted this technology towards, Magician?" Father Nightroad questioned the dark haired man. The Magician responded lightly, "If I told you our plans, then Mein Herr would surely be upset and we can't have that." He paused dramatically then snapped his fingers "Take them."

Two of the figures at the Magician's side disappeared, and Father Nightroad's gun went off catching one of the men in the shoulder as they hit the floor in front of Nightroad. The casing of the bullet bounced off a button on the panel and the pattern on the colorful wall changed. Esther fired on the other Methuselah, but he disappeared before the shotgun spray found their target. The methusalah appeared suddenly behind Esther knocking her to the ground and her weapon out of reach before she could react.

Father Nightroad fired on a descending autojager and its head exploded like a melon. A second autojager appeared on the floor and hefted an axe towards Father Nightroad. He dodged to the side and started mumbling as he hit the floor. The axe lodged into the wall above the console spilling rubble down over the console.

Esther kicked at the vampire holding her down eventually landing a blow between his legs and then crawled for her gun. Behind her, Father Nightroad's wintry eyes turned red and his silver hair flew up behind him. She reached for the gun, but was pulled back by the Methuselah. She tried to turn herself over so she could kick or punch the Methuselah dragging her back, but a sudden blow to her head sent her sprawling to the floor.

White spots danced in her vision and she saw Father Nightroad swing a black scythe at the autojager, but the scythe caught on something. She moved to try and help the Father, but the Methuselah held her to the ground. Dietrich approached the Father slowly and laughed as he released more of his strings immobilizing the Father. The Father screamed suddenly releasing a discharge of electricity breaking the strings and zapping the console behind him and the Puppetmaster in front of him.

The gold cylinder on the wall suddenly rotated and the colored wall mimicked the pattern of the wall with the golden cylinder. The Magician's face filled with concern and he yelled at Dietrich to deal with console. Before Dietrich could reach the console, a white beam shot from the gold cylinder as a red beam shot from the cylinder on the opposite colored wall. The methuselah who held Esther released her and made for the dark corridor, but as he approached the corridor, the beams met and sent out a shockwave. Unfortunately, the fleeing methuselah was the closest to the shock wave and Esther saw in slow motion the skin peel back and dematerialize exposing muscle as it touched the shockwave. The muscle was peeled back exposing bone, and the bone was then dematerialized. All this happened in the blink of an eye and Esther screamed in terror as the shockwave came for her. "Esth-!" she heard as the bright light of the shockwave overcame her.

She was traveling quickly through a twisting and turning tunnel of interwoven lightbeams. The beams became windows of light scrolling past as she twisted and somersaulted down. She heard voices all around loud and soft. Suddenly she was jerked to the side saw a vision of St. Matthias church slide past. Next, a distorted image of a methuselah with dark hair and violet eyes reached out for her while a tinny version of the Lady Bishop's voice called her name. She was then thrown back and the visions receded into the horizon. A black angel with red eyes confronted her as she turned and she reached out for it calling a name. She fell forward twisting and turning faster and faster from the colorful path into darkness until the darkness abruptly shattered into a shockwave around her. A solid floor rose up to greet her and she heard the sounds of shattering glass as she hit the floor. Dizzy, disoriented, and in pain, she retched on the floor and then felt the world tilt beneath her as she lost consciousness.

When she awoke later, it was dark and cold. The floor was dirty and the smell musty. Her ears rang and the ringing faded as she slowly sat up coughing. The walls had holes in them exposing the insulation and wooden supports underneath. There were stains on the hard concrete floor and some shattered bottles and crushed cans near the entrance of the room. A long window, or the shattered remains of it lined the upper half of the wall on the other side of the room. Sounds of horns honking and sirens wailing greeted her as she slowly climbed to her feet. Her right ankle ached – she must have injured it in the fall. This was strange. She was just in an abandoned lab wasn't she? As she limped over to the shattered remains of the window, her breath caught in her throat as she stared out over buildings - tall buildings. She stepped back realizing she was at least 20 floors up. She wasn't in the abandoned base any more. _Where is this?_ She couldn't remember any cities like this.


	3. Investigations and Asylum

He looked out over the city in the darkness, brooding and waiting – it was his city. Things had been quieter of late. He was still trying to track Two-Face's drug cartel and put an end to that operation. He had tracked several of the men down into the sewers last time – it was a dangerous maze down there. Well, dangerous considering he was down there. Really, the fools should operate out in the daylight – the darkness was his ally, not theirs. The Bat-signal lit up in the distance reflecting off the clouds. Gordon needed him again. He hopped off of his perch from the top of the building and took off towards the top of the police station. It was never good when Gordon signaled to him.

Gordon waited as Batman swung down silently next to the Bat-signal. Gordan's figure was slightly illuminated from the signal and light glinted off one lens of his glasses. Smoke trailed out of the end of his pipe. "We need your help."

"Yesterday evening, there was a theft from Gotham University. The Basium Vitae I fuel was stolen from Professor Gaius Balthasar's laboratory. His wife, Sylawn Six, was found dead at the scene."

"What does the Basium Vitae I fuel do?"

"I don't know what that crazy scientist was trying to do with it, but I do know what he said the BVI fuel could obliterate the entire city."

"Do you know who stole it?"

"No. Whoever it was didn't leave much behind."

"Have you managed to track Dent's operation down yet?" Gordon asked.

"I think they have been operating out of the abandoned subway system. I've tracked some men through the sewers a ways, which link to the subway, but the whole place is rigged with traps. They also move things around frequently." Batman answered.

"We managed to arrest some of their boys selling on the streets a couple nights ago, but they didn't know anything. We have a few ideas on their suppliers, but nothing solid," Gordan responded and handed Batman a report.

"I'll see if I can't snatch somebody the next time I go down there." Batman said taking the report.

"There is one more thing that you should be aware of. There was a homicide last week, and the victim, a female, 23 years old, had died of blood loss. The odd thing was that there were no other injuries other than two-puncture marks on the neck. Evidently, we have somebody who wants Gotham to believe vampires are real."

Batman flipped through the report. "Your investigators found no other residue on any of the fixtures, except for the door handle?" He said, frowning. "No, that was the other thing that was really odd – he had to have been very careful to not leave any residues on the faucets, or he may have traveled some distance with the body." Gordon answered lighting a cigarette and turning away. "Maybe somebody wants to start implicating you in some of these homicides" Gordon said turning back to Batman, but he had disappeared.

Batman retreated in the night to the batmobile. The BVI fuel would have to be recovered and soon. Although the other homicide seemed much less serious, it would not take long for the public to snowball this into something more sinister. The right people could even turn the homicide against Batman and use it as an excuse to start hunting him down again. There was also the matter of Harvey Dent's recent escape, but his sources had been quiet. The man could be a ghost if he wanted.

Esther gaped out the window for a long moment and breathed deeply trying to clear the underlying nausea. The air tasted…. dirty. She limped out of the room and found a series of other rooms two other rooms and a staircase. The other rooms were in a similar condition to the one she woke up in, minus the broken window. She called for Father Nightroad, timidly at first and then louder. There was no answer. She was alone. She made her way slowly down the steps and by about halfway down she began to see people. She tried to inquire if they had seen a priest, but their confused expressions told her that they could not understand her words. She could not understand them either.

As she stepped out from the building into alleyway and into the city, she was amazed by the height of the buildings. She knew of no city like this – even descriptions of Albion didn't match what she saw. Even the language was different. _Am I in the future, or the distant past?_ _Where was Father Nightroad – or the others for that matter?_ She should go back up and reexamine the scene, but her legs protested ascending all those stairs. She went back inside and found the elevator, but it didn't respond when she pushed the button. There was a piece of paper taped to the elevator with a note on it that she could not read. She would just have to come back later – she wanted to do some exploring first. It was a decision that she would come to regret.

She exited the building once again and turned from the alley onto the street. She walked down the street and turned onto the next block simply following the flow of people and traffic. She was daunted by the scale of the city and the amount of people and cars. She noticed that she was getting odd looks by people around her and realized that people thought her odd – had they never seen a nun before. She tried to talk to a few people to get her bearings, but she was always met with confused looks – did nobody speak Latin? The technology was absolutely amazing. There were computers everywhere! Abruptly she realized, while ogling through the window of the store that she should go back. She had counted the blocks and turns, but after trying to retrace her steps, she realized that she was lost – and hungry.

She found a deliciously smelling pastry shop, but abruptly realized that people paid with a small rectangular card or tender that she did not possess. She wondered around for the most the rest of the day trying to find her way back. She sat dirty and tired on a park bench defeated by the end of the day. She watched people in the park for awhile, her throat parched and stomach growling all the while. She must have looked pretty pathetic because a passerby suddenly handed her part of a sandwich. She crossed herself and blessed him and hoped he would understand that much – which by the smile, he did. The sun slowly set changing colors as it fell lengthening the shadows of the buildings and trees. However, when she looked into the night's sky she froze in shock when there was no Vampire's moon to be seen. Abruptly she realized that she was in all likelihood in the distant past. _At least there are no Methuselah to worry about, right? _

It was growing late and she was tired. She felt safer in the park, so she took shelter under a remote looking tree and tried to hide herself at its foot. It was cold, and she fell into an uneasy slumber. She was awakened in the night by the soft sound of voices. She opened her eyes and realized two figures were bearing down on her. She struggled to her feet but one of the men grabbed her arm and then pushed her back into the tree violently knocking the air from her lungs. The other man slapped her across the face before she could cry out. Her training finally kicked in, and she kicked in the side of the knee and he dropped to the ground crying out and clutching his knee. The other man leapt towards her, and she grabbed his arm using his momentum against him guiding him into the tree face first. She ran and tasted blood in her mouth. After several minutes of running she stopped and looked back and was relieved to find no signs of pursuit. Spooked, she left the park and found an empty looking alleyway. She squeezed between two dumpsters and experienced fretful sleep the rest of the night.

After an uneasy night her stomach was again growling. She was going to be in trouble if she couldn't find a safe shelter and a steady source of food soon. She was sure she looked about as bad as she felt and adjusted her habit to hide evidence of attack. She rubbed her rosary and prayed to the heavens that she find some salvation that day. As she finished her prayer, an idea came to her.

She walked up to a diminuative woman and showed her rosary and put on her best confused look. She gestured a prayer also. The woman was initially confused but her face lit up as comprehension dawned on her. The woman gestured for Esther to follow, and they traveled several blocks then made a right and traveled several more blocks. Esther smiled broadly and tried to thank the woman, and the woman reciprocated with a smile. Esther took a deep breath and pulled open the doors of the church.

The church was mostly empty. She passed some prayer candles to the side, then paused and went back and lit one for Father Nightroad. She then sat down in one of the pews to pray awhile. She watched the servants of the church awhile and realized that the women in black robes must be nuns. Screwing up her courage, she approached one of them and tried to introduce herself only to be met with confusion again. Apparently, the clergy did not speak Latin either. The nuns however did not give up, and upon noticing Esther's bruises, fatigue, and the stomach growl gestured for her to follow them further into the church. She was able to at least communicate with them that her name was Esther. She learned that their names were Martha, Melaine, and Jane.

The kitchen area smelled heavenly and Esther (particularly her stomach) was grateful for their kindness. When the food was ready, they sat down to eat and Martha and the others bowed their heads in prayer. "Pater noster,…." Esther started realizing it was the Lord's Prayer and then immediately joined.

The others looked up and smiled at her as she finished with them. Esther tried to go slow as she ate – it was hard and the food was delicious. The nuns talked with one another as they ate. Suddenly, it hit Esther. The Lord's Prayer was in Latin – if they knew the words of the prayer, she should be able to communicate!

She cleared her throat and held up her piece of bread "Pane." She had their attention. Next she pointed to herself and she said "Est nomen meum Esther" placing emphasis on "nomen" and "Esther." She indicated to the nuns sequentially and said "Nomina vestra sunt Martha, Melaine, et Jane" with the emphasis on the beginning of "nomina." Martha looked at Esther excitedly and started speaking rapidly to the other nuns – then they looked at Esther excitedly. Martha ran out of the room and returned shortly with a man in a black outfit with a white square at the neckline – a brother or a priest? He carried one of those thin computers without the keyboard. He looked at Esther excitedly and then started tapping on the screen of the computer. He then presented the screen to Esther. On the bottom were the familiar letters and on the left side the letters were arranged into a language. On the right side it read "Do you speak Latin?" Amazing! Esther nodded rapidly.

Two hours later, she lay in a soft bed with a fresh set of clothes. Her stomach was blessedly full. After she realized that she could communicate using the Lord's Prayer as a start, the nuns were initially confused, but caught on quickly. They had summoned the priest who used a small computer to translate Latin to what was called English. She relayed a story about being a lost traveler and thankfully, the priest and nuns bought her fable. The priest, Marcus, granted her temporary stay and small pay as long as she helped the nuns perform their duties. Her thoughts started to space out as she fell asleep. She chided herself drowsily for not asking about Father Nightroad, but resolved to ask the next day. She was soon asleep.

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**Please Review**. I need motivation to write and will have more motivation if I get reviews.


	4. A Crossing of Paths

Bruce Wayne smiled through his teeth at the other guests at the reception. He was in the University of Gotham's Science and Technology Center. Ordinarily, he would have been out patrolling, but tonight, his presence was required. Wayne Enterprises proposed a joint collaboration on some of the riskier science projects with several of the scientists and engineers at the Center. Along with the collaboration came the funding from Wayne Enterprises. Unfortunately, large influxes of funding were often accompanied by the need for ceremony… and speeches.

After chatting with various scientists and engineers at the reception, he made his way to the front for his speech.

"I want to thank everybody for coming tonight to talk about science, technology, and the future. The world had made a great technological progress in the past century and has improved lives around the world because of it. I'm proud to say that Wayne Enterprises has participated in the development of some of that progress. However far we continue to drive science and technology forward, we still have more progress to make. I envision a world without crime, poverty, hunger, or energy problems, and there is much ground to cover to accomplish that vision. We can't do it alone."

"I cannot talk about the future without talking about the past. Great scientific progress has always been made through partnerships and information exchange. Nobody can do research in a vacuum. There is always some competing theory to disprove or uncovered facets of another scientist's research to investigate. Otherwise Copernicus would have never uncovered the motions of the planets, neither would Lavosier have discovered oxygen. By questioning knowledge and investigating new areas, we make progress and eventually that progress improves the lives of everybody around us. However, we cannot talk about the future without still talking about the present."

"I still see us consuming more energy than we produce, cancer claiming young lives, poverty and hunger because we do not have ways of producing food easily and cheaply. I do know this: Gotham University researchers have made breakthroughs in energy technology, medicine, and agriculture. Wayne Enterprises has done work in the applied and discovery research in these areas. By marrying our expertise and forming new partnerships, we can become the engine of science and technological progress. By making scientific and technological progress, we can improve lives, eradicate disease, confront energy challenges, avoid pollution, and halt crime."

His speech was followed by polite applause. The Assistant Director, Lara Roslet, then stood up and spoke. This job would have ordinarily fallen to the Director, Gaius Balthasar. Afterwards he approached Lara. "Was Dr. Balthasar not able to attend the ceremony tonight?"

Lara coughed slightly "Well actually he just lost his wife. Somebody broke into his laboratory and shot the woman and then stole some of his research. It was tragic."

She continued with an excited light to her eyes "He had been close to a breakthrough on his energy project. His BVI fuel would have ensured a stable energy source that gives off no toxic or carbon pollutants." She stopped when she noticed the glazed look in his eyes.

"The BVI fuel can be used to create energy without fossil fuels or greenhouse gases." She said simply.

Bruce got the feeling that the tragedy that she was previously referencing was not the woman, but the stolen fuel. "Yes, it was a terrible tragedy. Was there anybody who would have wanted that research bad enough to kill for it?"

"No. He was well liked and respected both within and outside of this University." Lara responded.

After his conversation with Lara, he slipped quietly away from the party and deeper into the building where the labs were located. He located Balthasar's laboratory and picked the lock to the door. The lab was dark and quiet and the crime scene had already been cleaned up. He made his way around the laboratory, but found nothing out of the ordinary. As he left the lab, he noticed something peculiar next to the computer. It was a small lighter with the symbol of a local bar engraved on it. He examined it, but found nothing out of the ordinary and then replaced it. He exited the lab slightly frustrated. He decided to visit the bar and then the scene of the 'vampire' crime. Perhaps he would find clues for that crime instead.

Esther warily made her way down the dark street towards the Winged Rat nightclub. Ever since her first night in the park, she had been vigilant about going out at night. She touched her concealed crossbow for comfort. She had no choice but to make a crude crossbow after observing the outrageous prices at the armories. At least she managed to acquire clothes similar to her Istvan stealth clothing. All-in-all she felt much like she had when she was fighting Gyula in Istvan with her dark clothing and simply made weapons.

She eyed strangers as they passed her and then laughed inwardly at herself. These people were actually the ones in danger. They just didn't realize it. While the papers had been largely silent about the homicides, the tabloids played up the stories as a vampire attack. Or rather at least some of the tabloids singled out a vampire bat perpetrator. The clergy scolded her when she inquired about the attacks saying that there were no such things as vampires. She knew better. If there were no vampires now, then she was probably in the past. The vampires had not appeared until after the Armageddon. The other possibility was that she was far in the future. Her stomach turned at the thought of all the Methuselah being wiped out. There were too many good people. Nonetheless, If she was temporally displaced, then why not everybody else? While she was relieved that there had been no sign of Dietrich, nobody had heard of or even see a silver-haired priest.

After her thoughts lingered on Father Nightroad momentarily, she realized that as bad as the methuselah attacks were, they were a small comfort. At least she knew that she was not completely alone and there was a chance of reuniting with the Father. This brought her thoughts back to the present. The Father would also be tracking any Methuselah attacks, so if she could find him, she would have a better chance of returning to her own time. She quickened her steps towards The Winged Rat in anticipation. It was the last place a victim had disappeared from.

A loud conversation floated to her ears and caught her attention. It was coming from in front of her. A woman was pulled roughly into an alley by a taller figure and a cry of protest sounded out as her arm was twisted. Esther quickened her steps as anger sparked from within. This wasn't right! I should be able to help! She reached the edge of the alley only to see a dark figure with swoop in and knock the taller man away from the woman and onto the ground. Her first thought had been the Father, but the black cape belonged to somebody else – either a very brave or very foolish person.

The woman ran while the man got to his feet slowly. Suddenly, the caped man was thrown into the alley wall. The man flashed a smile briefly revealing fangs that glistened faintly in the dim streetlight. He disappeared before her eyes and then caught the caped figure before he hit the ground. Esther struggled to get out her crossbow and by the time she finally had it ready, the methuselah's bone knife had penetrated the dark man's shoulder. Fortunately his roar of pain over powered the clack of the crossbow being loaded. She took aim - _Fwip!_

Batman checked the bar that the lighter had belonged to. The owner didn't know anything about Dr. Balthasar or a high tech fuel. This lead was a temporary dead end – he had other ideas to dig up evidence. After his visit to the bar, he turned his attention to the vampire case. He needed to go to the Winged Rat and scout the scene out at the nightclub, which was where the last victim had been sighted alive.

He grappled from rooftop to rooftop rapidly approaching the club. When he got close, he found a good perch and settled in. He could just see the club, but was far enough out to watch for any suspicious activity taking place just out of sight of the club. Time crawled by, people passed below, and closing time neared. A couple talked loudly across the street. It appeared to be the start of a lover's quarrel, but when the tall man roughly grabbed the woman and pulled her into the alley he knew there was going to be trouble.

Batman loosed his grappling gun and swung to the next rooftop positioning himself to intervene. The woman cried out again and Batman catapulted himself from the roof. The man never knew what hit him – one moment he was pulling the woman along and the next he was sprawled out on the ground. He turned to make sure the woman was alright but she was already running out of the alley.

He turned his attention back to the man who was calmly regaining his feet. A sense of unease suddenly permeated him and he realized there was something wrong. The man was too calm. He –Batman never had a chance to complete the thought as he found himself suddenly flying backwards through the air. He vaguely contemplated not even seeing the man attack as the wall slapped him hard in the back. The impact drove the air from his lungs and before he dropped to the ground he found himself pinned to the wall by his neck. His vision flickered and he struggled vainly realizing that the man was not only faster than he could have imagined but was incredibly strong. He struggled to break the man's grip, but a long knife sliced through his shoulder. He bellowed in pain trying to wrap his mind around his predicament.

Suddenly the man jerked to the side crying out and Batman fell to the ground groaning in pain. He man hissed grabbing his shoulder and tore a length of wood from his shoulder throwing it to the ground. Batman staggered to his feet and the man disappeared before his eyes. Nobody was that fast! He had to have some sort of cloaking technology. Batman heard steps behind him and snatched the length of wood from the ground. With his good arm he fired his grappling gun and escaped upwards to safety.

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**If you read, please review! **If the story got a little slow, I promise the next chapter will be more interesting. Abel will be back!


	5. The Gotham Police Department

"Esther!" Abel screamed as she was consumed in the flash of light. Before he could move away, it was upon him. He snatched backwards at a data cube protruding from the console to stop the device, but the light consumed him.

His scythe disintegrated and he sped forward through the meshed light tunnel. A figure appeared in the distance and he rapidly closed on it – it was Lillith with her arms spread out in an embrace – she was smiling. Abruptly he was yanked to the side and then he plummeted downward. A small girl with jade eyes and jet black hair flew past and he jerked back away from her. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked back into the red eyes of his brother. His brother's multi-winged visage faded as he jerked once more forward – a red planet sped by. He started traveling faster and faster – his mouth was open in a soundless scream and the low drone of static sounded in his ears.

He curved downwards hitting a solid surface as reality exploded outward from him like shards of glass. The sounds of breaking glass reached his ears as the eerily high pitched tinkling reverberated through his skull as the floor struck his chest. He tried to get up but the Krusnik buzzed angrily inside of him making his limbs feel as if they were numb and full of static. His body twitched and jerked and his stomached roiled and spasmed. His eyes watered, and he heaved the contents of his stomach onto the floor. Darkness flickered at the edge of his vision and the buzzing of the Krusnik escalated – it was screaming at him. Its pitch increased swallowing his mind, and Abel blacked out hoping that the Krusnik would not take control.

He awoke to the sounds of people pounding on a nearby door yelling. He looked around – it was a hotel bedroom that was mostly destroyed. The bed next to him had been shredded and the furniture lay against the wall shattered. Large curtains billowed towards him in the cold breeze. He got to his feet slowly, dizzy and shaking, his stomach still twisting and his vision blurred. He had to get out of here. He didn't want to be found by the police at the scene of destruction, but found it difficult to think clearly. _Where was Esther?_ "Esther!?" He shouted. He stumbled to the window – and distantly realized that the people were yelling through the door in an old but familiar language. He looked down – he was at least 10 stories off the ground – not good in his condition. He could fight his way out, but the Krusnik was suspiciously silent – he suspected they were temporarily inactivated. If he cooperated, the police might release him without much trouble.

The door flew open and the police ran in yanking him from the window and pulling him to the floor. He went down without a fight. His arms were painfully twisted behind him, and he felt the handcuffs go on. His stomach twisted again, and he felt dizzy and weak. They pulled him to his feet, and he fought to keep from swaying.

The ride to the police station did little to improve his nausea, so he tried to concentrate on finding some defining landmark that could tell him where he was. He also considered the story he was going to tell the police. He was shocked when he realized that they were speaking in English, American English by the accent, which meant he was in America. He was guessing that he was in New York City, by what few landmarks he saw, however the sign on the police station said Gotham Police. _Odd_.

He spied a wall calendar hanging in the back of the station when he arrived. It read 2011. If he was on a parallel timeline, he wondered how different history was or would be for this timeline. From what he had seen, it couldn't be too far from his own timeline. _What did it mean for everybody else caught in the laboratory? Were they in this city?_

They searched him and then processed him finally putting him in a holding cell. He explained he was part of the Ministry of Holy Affairs and was investigating a crime of special interest to the Vatican as a special agent. He pointed to his badge that they had confiscated from him. There had been a problem and an explosion ensued, but he couldn't give details. He hoped they wouldn't check his story too carefully. If they didn't, it would work in his favor.

He sat on the small bench in the holding cell for a long time. His nausea and weakness had finally passed for which he was grateful. Standing was still a little tiring and the bench was hard. Then the hunger started. A guard passed. "Excuse me, but, I'm starving." Abel complained. The guard responded that he was still being processed and told him to be quiet. That probably meant they were checking his story. _Great._ A few hours later, they took him to an interrogation room.

Shackled hand and foot, he sat across from an old, tough and grizzled looking man with white hair who was a detective called Blake. "Um, is all this really necessary?" Abel squeaked out.

"Who are you really?" The old man's grinding tone brooked no argument or nonsense.

"It is as I said. I am Abel Nightroad, an agent of the Ministry of the Holy Affairs in the Vatican." Abel responded confidently. Blake countered "Is that so? You see, we called the Vatican and they said that you don't exist."

"Well that should make sense seeing that I am a special unit. You should release me. I've lost quite a lot of time on this case because of your police. There is a very dangerous man I am pursuing." Abel said pointedly.

"The only thing you are currently pursuing is jail time. We checked. There is no Ministry of Holy Affairs. There are no Italian citizens by your name and there are no American citizens by your name. So you wanna tell us who you are?" Blake growled.

The questioning continued for the next hour. By the end, Abel had been charged with property destruction, breaking and entering, and possession of a concealed weapon. _So much for the plan not to make trouble_ Abel thought. They made him hand over his priest robes and denied him his rosary when he requested it. It had too many sharp edges.

He spent the next several days in the county prison. They didn't treat him any worse than the UN had treated him, but it was very boring. He finally got them to concede to letting him read the local paper. It was very informative of the local and world political climate. America was at war, which was not so different from his history. The security atmosphere was heightened, so it meant that he would likely be transferred to a federal prison considering he had been found in an obliterated hotel room. Escape from such a place could be difficult. Curiously he found an article in the opinion pages about a local vigilante, somebody who dressed in black with a cape and called himself Batman.

Blake questioned him again asking how he had blown up the hotel room. There had been no chemical residues and no evidence of any explosives. "What is this cube?" It was the data cube that he had swiped from the computer before it had sent him back through time – the data would be lost if they attempted to dismantle it. There would be no getting back. "It's a personal effect; I like cubes – this one is small and shiny, so I like to keep it with me." The detective looked skeptical. They pulled out two more metal pieces with wires coming out of one end. One piece fit inside of another. He studied it – it looked like a fragment of the cylinder that had been on the wall in the laboratory. "I have no idea what it is – maybe the last hotel patron left it" He lied again. He needed that piece too – he hoped they didn't throw it away.

Two days later, he spotted a very interesting opinion article. This one was a commentary about public reaction to a series of recent homicides. The author was lamenting that the public was too superstitious for modern times. Vampires did not exist.

He had evidence that he was not trapped in this time by himself. He needed to catch the methuselah and sequester him before he caused too much trouble and screwed up this timeline. He hated to think of the consequences. If Isaak, Dietrich, and the other Methuselah perturbed this timeline, there would be no telling what the future impact would be on these people. The Abel, Seth, or Lilith of this timeline might not ever have a chance to live. Or the Rosenkruez could do something that would kill millions in the future, or now. Their interference with this timeline could be completely catastrophic for these people or their future. Abel needed to make sure that the Rosenkruez did not interfere – or himself.

He considered the other implications of the story. It meant that Esther was here. He worried a little for her. She had no knowledge of the language and was all by herself. If she caught wind of the methuselah, she would undoubtedly investigate. The article did not say when the attack had been. He asked around about the attack – it was difficult to get information. When he did find out, he found that it had been weeks ago when the attack occurred. That was weird – he had not been here for that long – was Esther even around? He needed to investigate independently and that meant he needed to escape – he had been waiting for an opportunity, but none presented itself.

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Batman picked the lock of the window of the chemical warehouse. His purpose here was two-fold: the arrow and the BVI fuel precursor. He had recovered the arrow that had broken off in his attacker the other night. The strange thing about it was that it had been soaked in silver nitrate, which was very odd. While silver nitrate was more or less easy to purchase, this particular brand had another metal contaminant in it that made it easy to track. This particular warehouse was the only one that sold the brand with that contaminant in it, or at least according to Fawkes it was. He had also researched the BVI fuel and found one of the common precursors to it, which was also sold through the warehouse. Whoever had stolen the fuel might be after more. The distributor at the warehouse had not reported any thefts, but if they were corrupt, their books might lend some information or show that they were missing more chemicals.

The lock opened and he faded into the darkness of the warehouse. He passed rows and rows of big blue and silver drums. The walls were lined with dark bottles of all shapes and sizes. A faint foul odor hung in the air. He found the shipping and distribution office and quietly picked the lock to that door and went directly to the large books on the shelves. Next he pulled the files to the shipping manifest. He checked the precursor to the BVI chemicals and looked for large purchases of the silver nitrate, but could find no discrepancies. He did notice large discrepancies next to an explosive chemical. They were due to receive 50 kg of the chemical, but they had only received 10 kg. The next shipment would arrive in a week. He made a mental note to visit the docks on that night.

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Several more days passed, and it was on the front page. There had been a massacre in an office building. The massacre had been perpetrated by figures cloaked in black wearing gas masked. The masked figures killed 20 peopled with bladed weapons. The attack had been preceeded by some kind of explosion. The attackers had all escaped. That was it. He had to escape. He couldn't let this stuff continue. If the autojagers were here, the methuselahs were here. And Isaak and Dietrich were here. He couldn't imagine the kind of havoc that they would wreak on this world with their abilities. He vowed to escape within the next day. He should work to conceal his abilities – if they thought he had special abilities, he would undoubtedly invite a more intensive chase, and escape would be difficult if not impossible if he were recaptured.

His opportunity came as they were transferring him from the interrogation room back to his cell. He almost reached the cell with the guard, but didn't hear the click of the door locking behind the guard. He pretended to be sick moaning, groaning, and clutching his stomach. "I feel really sick; I'm gonna throw up!" He whined pitifully. As he doubled over on the way back, he snapped his handcuffs in the front and kicked the guard into the wall, knocking the guard out. The rest of the inmates immediately started either yelling or cheering.

He didn't have long before they were on top of him. He dragged the guard directly under the security camera and took off the utility belt. The utility belt contained handcuffs, gun, baton, mace, taser gun, knife, and ammunition. He quickly belted it around himself then ran down the hall to the next door and unlocked the door with the key card he looted from the guard.

He started ascending the stairs, three at a time, but as he reached the top of the first flight and officer pulled open the door. Abel yanked the man through the door and the officer cried out – Abel quickly covered his mouth and wrestled him to the ground. He bent the man's arm around behind him at an awkward angle applying pressure upward until the man started to groan. "If you want to live, tell me where the inmates personal items are" he hissed putting pressure on the arm and the tip of the mace canister on the back of the man's head to make the point. "Closet 10 on the 3rd floor" the man groaned. "Describe it, where is it!" Abel growled menacingly. "It's at the end of the second hallway on the left!" the officer pleaded. He put pressure on the man's neck and the officer soon went limp from lack of blood flow to the brain.

He didn't have long until the officer awoke or was found. He hastily tried to replace the canister on the belt and then started leaping up the stairs. He was halfway up the third flight when the alarm was raised. He quickly ran behind the door of the third floor as it opened flattening himself against the wall. Shouts and the clattering of feet echoed from two stories down.

He started to sneak out from behind the door, but another officer came through. He slammed the door back on the officer catching him between the door and the wall causing the officer to drop like a sack of potatoes. Sounds of the cops climbing the stairs and descending echoed around him, so he dashed out of the stairwell and jammed the door with a nearby chair. There were three hallways – one in front, one to the left, and one to the right. He pulled out the gun and shot the security cameras at the ends of the halls. If they didn't know where he was before, they were sure of it now.

Three officers appeared at the end of the hallway before him and one on the left. He took off towards the officer on the hall on the left. The officer drew his firearm screaming "FREEZE! Hands where I can see them!" Unfortunately Abel tripped as he skidded to a halt, and the gun went off in the officer's hand narrowly missing Abel's head. Abel drew his gun and hit the officer in the knee. Something slipped out the belt, but there was no time to recover it.

Abel sprinted forward to the last door on the left passing the screaming officer. As Abel passed the officer the other three officers rounded the corner and then started shooting. Abel dodged behind a bookcase and heard "Come out with your hands up! You have nowhere to go!" Indeed – there was no window – he was trapped! He glanced around frantically. _Something, Anything! _– he thought frantically. Then he saw it down it lying in the floor down the hall near where the officers were taking cover. _Would it work?_ He hoped so. Otherwise, there was a good chance he was going to be spending the rest of his life in supermax prison. He said a silent prayer and then aimed and fired.

The bullet hit the pressurized mace canister. It exploded like a bomb coating everything and everybody with the acerbic liquid. "AAAIIIIIEEEE!" The officers screamed going down with their hands on their faces. Abel quickly sprinted to the door at the end of the hall. It was then that Abel realized his mistake in going down the left hall. This room was the bathroom. He heard sounds of pursuit and quickly closed the door trying to think of a plan. He reloaded the clip on his gun looking around for a window or way out. There was a ventilation duct in the corner of the bathroom above the stall, but it was too small to fit through.

When the officers walked in the bathroom it was empty. They checked all the stalls and looked confusedly at one another. "I saw him go in there!" an officer said through teary eyes. "People don't disappear into thin air!" The other officer screamed exasperatedly.

Abel tried not to breath. It was difficult. The ventilations shaft was small where it met the ceiling, but it opened up above the ceiling affording him the space to crawl into it. The ceiling tiles could be removed, so he had stood on one of the toilets and had punched into the side of the ventilation shaft with the knife from the utility belt. He pulled the rest of it open cutting his hands. He tried to crawl slowly and quietly as the officers yelled at one another, but it was difficult.

Suddenly the duct groaned and he felt the floor of the duct giving out beneath him. He loudly crashed to the ground and found himself in a dark room. A slit of light shone through the floor of the room which allowed him all the light he needed to see. The walls were lined with metallic bins with small key holes. He quickly scanned the walls looking for the bin with his name on it. He found the bin labeled "Abel Nightroad" and took the bin without attention to the lock.

The closet door suddenly flew open blinding him with light "FREEZE! ON THE GROUND!" He heard the click of the gun being cocked. He used haste diving forward and knocking the breath out of the officer sending them both out into the middle hall which was the hall he should have taken. Officers appeared at the end of the hall near the stairwell and drew their firearms. Abel sprinted to the window at the end of the hall – the sound of firearms going off around him. He felt something catch his shoulder as he dove through the shattering window.

He hit the ground hard rolling to spread out the impact. Adrenaline pumped through his veins and he got up slowly, and then took off running down the dark alley. He heard shouts behind him and he ran dodging in and out and through various alley ways. He was running faster than a normal human ran, but he was sure they could follow the blood trail if they were careful, so after a few blocks, he leapt up onto a rickety fire escape and climbed the escape. He emerged on to the roof of the building and leapt to the far roof of the next building. He ran across the top of that building and made a second jump.

He was starting to get faint and dizzy from the blood loss so he used the roof access to get into the building. It was dark and there was faint music coming from downstairs. He tried the first door. It was dirty on the inside, but otherwise looked abandoned. He shut the door and put his back against it slumping to the floor breathing hard and fighting against the rolling floor he felt beneath him. He took off his prison shirt and tried to tie it around his wound. He felt cold and the room spun before him before darkness took him.

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**Thanks to everybody who has reviewed! ****And thank you for letting me know about the character transitions. I just punctuated the character transitions with XXXXX now and have gone back and edited the last few chapters for that so it is more clear. I am still having trouble navigating the document manager and have not figured out yet how to nicely indent the paragraphs... maybe somebody could drop me a hint on that. :)**

**If you read, please review!**


	6. Plans

Abel Nightroad was not the only one that heard about the bladed office attack. A man with disheveled green hair and cold eyes looked at the picture upside down in the newspaper. He had to "bribe" the guard to even get the paper. "Frankie, buddy, you gotta give me some kind of a reason not to kill you the next time I give you guys vacation time." He said. He also found out about Frankie's affair and 'promised' to keep quiet about it if he looked the other way. 'Promise' was a relative word.

Twenty-three people died in the attack. This guy, whoever it was, had potential. This many people had not died since, well, since the last time he got out. It would be fun to play with the Bat again. There was one thing he didn't like about the attack. The number was acceptable. The axes and blades were an absolutely _killer_ idea, and the trench coats and gas masks were a nice touch. It was just that the _execution_ left something to be desired. It was great to kill by knife – the thing was that if you wanted to do it right, it had to be savored. He was sure that it had been pretty difficult to savor those twenty deaths in a crowded office building. Yes. This guy had potential – he just needed to be shown how to really enjoy himself. Yes. This was going to be fun. A low chuckle escaped his throat.

XXXXXXXX

Abel recovered from his gunshot wound over the next several days, though he was quite thirsty by the end of it. He stayed mostly out of sight because he was hunted by the local police on account of him injuring several officers. It had not been easy, but he had managed to acquire some extra clothing – a torn hoodie and a dirty scarf. Unfortunately the police would easily be able to identify a blue-eyed silver-haired man. His British accent singled him out as well.

He looked for Esther at the local shelters. Unfortunately, the owners of the second shelter he searched identified him, and he escaped out the window of a bathroom. His brush with the police had been a close call, and he avoided the shelters thereafter.

He also visited the scene of the crimes to look for clues for the whereabouts of Dietrich, Isaak and the methuselah, but the detectives had scoured the crime scenes. The office building where the autojaeger attack took place had been another harrowing adventure. He broke in at night, but somebody saw his flashlight in the building and reported the break in. He escaped by opening the window, walked around the side of the building, and then jumped to the next building.

He also concluded that he needed information on all the crimes related to the Rosencreutz's activity. It was crucial that he stop them before they screwed up this timeline, but he struggled to find information not significantly distorted by the local papers. Unfortunately, the police would have the best records available.

Suddenly the idea hit him and he cursed himself for his stupidity. He could not go to the police, but he could bring their records to him. The internet was new during this time, and network security was bound to be weak. He eventually identified a target computer after a night or two of prowling. The computer belonged to a young college aged student with a penchant for partying out every night.

He waited until the young man disappeared from the apartment, then he made his way to the apartment door with a practiced ease avoid suspicion and quickly picked the lock. He settled down at the desk to the ancient looking machine. This was going to be too easy. He opened the terminal window on the computer and his fingers flew across the keyboard. Within minutes he hacked into the police database and was sifting through the reports from the crime scenes.

The police really didn't have a clue, and New York – no, Gotham was going to be in serious trouble if he didn't stop Dietrich and Isaak. This made him pause. The Gothamites reported the activities of only Dietrich and another Methuselah. Where was everybody else including Esther? She would undoubtedly try to interfere with Rosencreutz's activities. Perhaps Isaak hid himself? It was also unusual for Dietrich to have revealed himself in the office attack. Usually he operated behind the scenes. He started rapidly sifting through more police reports to uncover additional clues to the puzzle.

He uncovered a document referencing BVI fuel, and his heart jumped into his throat. Was this THE BVI? His eyes frantically searched the document. A group called the Two-face stole the fuel. Was it related to the Rosencreutz? His stomach tightened as he frantically scanned for more information. Just as he reached the bottom of the document he noticed that the police linked the Two-face to black market weapons dealing at the city port. He would head to the – a faint click sounded in the background. Blast it! The partygoer had returned early!

He hastily executed the program he wrote when he initially accessed the computer. It would eliminate any traces of his activity on the police server. Within seconds he was out the window and casually walking down the alleyway with his hoodie pulled up and a scarf concealing his features.

His next target was clear and a sense of urgency permeated him. He would visit the docks to see if this Two-face group would lead him to either the Rosencreutz or the BVI fuel.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Esther heard the stories of cloaked figures in gas masks – autojaegers. Unfortunately, her duties at the church demanded so much of her that she had little time to puzzle out the newspaper or go out to investigate. Apparently, learning the language had the unfortunate effect of increasing her workload.

Still, she felt responsible for finding a way to stop or slow the Rosencreutz down. On top of stopping the Rosencreutz, she needed to figure out how to get back home. She also needed to find Nightroad. She was worried that he had not turned up yet. Then again, the city was huge – it wouldn't be hard to miss somebody.

Her lack of success in finding the original methuselah drove her to investigate the scene of the office attack. Several days passed before she finally had time to investigate the autojaeger incident. By the time she left the church, darkness covered the city. The first part of her trip required her to walk through the well-lit college district; however the laughter soon faded behind her as she neared her destination. She walked on quickly and projected confidence while staying on alert. A figure appeared in front of her. She immediately turned to a side alley and found herself confronted by three more figures advancing towards her. She turned on her heel and retreated back passing under a lamp.

She was suddenly snatched from behind. Yelping she threw an elbow behind her and was gratified by a groan. She opened her mouth to yell, but the cold touch of a blade on her throat silenced her. "Quiet girlie" somebody breathed into her ear. There were four men in front of her now. She knew what was coming. She sagged in the man's grip and whimpered. "That's right, girlie" the man breathed in her ear. She whimpered again and felt the blade withdraw from her neck. She snapped her arm up suddenly knocking the knife out of the man's hand and driving her elbow into his side yelling as she did so. The other men hesitated, and she used that moment to knock one back with a kick to the side. Rough hands grabbed her arm as her foot connected with another man's crotch.

Something struck her head hard, and she saw bright lights. She tried to move forward but one of the men held her from behind. Her side exploded in pain as she was struck in the side. She sagged in the man's grip tasting blood in her mouth. She hung there for a second trying to orient herself. A hand cupped her jaw forcing her to look forward "that was a bad idea, girlie." The man's face swam before her eyes, her vision red. She tried to snap at his fingers, but her effort was met with another blow to her jaw. She spiraled into a dizzying world of pain, and she dimly felt hands unbuttoning her pants. She tried to muster the effort to fight, but her heavy limbs would not respond to her commands. She steeled herself and vowed to live through what they would do to her. She hit the ground, but dimly realized that the intrusive hands left her. As she slowly processed this information, the screams of the men around her escalated her pulsing headache and echoed through her brain.

XXXXXXXXXX

Abel noticed as a busty, diminutive woman crossed the path far in front of him. She held herself like she could command the world. It was not safe for somebody like her in this place. He crossed her path and looked down after her. She was gone. He strode forward to his new destination. He should not interfere in the business of this timeline. A yelp gave him pause and he turned around. _Trouble? That woman?_ He battled internally for a moment, but then decided for his conscience that he should help. There was a time in which he would have just walked on.

He turned back down the alley trying to pinpoint its location. There was a scuffle somewhere and he increased his pace trying to pin-point the scuffle. There was a yell and he whipped around to his right, but he saw nobody. The sounds must have bounced off the buildings distorting the location. He paused and listened for the sounds of the scuffle again and carefully tried to pinpoint its location. After a moment, he took off at a run.

He rounded the corner and found four men standing around the crumpled form of a woman while the fifth struggled with her clothing. A rage ignited in him and something within him stirred. _Teach them a lesson...make them feel pain…. punish them for their sins_. The mantra pounded through his head as he pulsed momentarily with rage. He was usually not so susceptible to _them_, and promptly attributed it to his hunger as his fangs start to grow and his vision heightened. The _terrans_… no, humans would not sate his hunger, but they would sate his desire for destruction. "Leave. Now." he said in a low, almost gravelly voice as he strained to hold himself back.

"You leave, and we won't kill you." The squatting man flicked his wrist and a blade glinted in the darkness. Two more blades glinted as the others drew them. "I don't know man; his, his eyes are kinda red…." One of the men said taking a step backwards.

"Don't puss out Mike." One of the others snapped. They advanced. It wasn't really a fair fight for them. More than once Abel felt the fiery tongue of one of their blades on his skin. More than once, there was the distinct crack of bone, though fortunately not his bones. The real fight was with himself to keep the Krusnik in check. After a few minutes, it was all over. The men lay on the ground, some groaning, some silent, but all were breathing. They would be fine with some medical attention, which was a victory for him.

During the fight, the woman managed to drag herself over to the side of the alley. She had balled up trying to protect herself. Good girl. He froze. She had red hair. He knelt over her and talked softly and soothingly before he touched her. She looked up at his touch – it was Esther! One of her eyes was swollen shut, and blood dribbled out of her mouth. "Esther, are you alright?" He said softly in Latin. She just blinked, and looked at him dazedly. He scooped her up gently and headed back to his "apartment" hoping that nobody had moved in. It would probably be bad to show up with a battered woman in tow.

XXXXXXXXXX

Esther couldn't really tell what was happening. Her head felt like an echo chamber and her entire field of vision was a hazy red that swam before her. Her head and side were on fire. When the men had stopped messing with her clothes, she tried to crawl away. There was a lot of shouting and it was really disorienting. She was so dizzy and tired, and the ground was cool and inviting. She felt a soft touch on her arm and looked up, but couldn't make out the concealed figure. Sounds rumbled through her head and stopped and she felt herself being lifted. The man's pace was quick and the cadence enhanced the allure of sleep. She fought against it and gradually strung her thoughts together. This person had saved her, but could she trust him? Apprehension started to build in her, and she assessed her condition for an escape. If he had beaten off all those men, what chance did she stand? Her vision in her good eye gradually cleared. It hurt to draw breath, and she hoped her ribs were only bruised. She felt weak and exhausted from the shock. She decided to bide her time and watch for an escape opportunity.

They arrived at the man's "apartment." This guy must have been really, really poor. There wasn't even a proper bed. There was just a mattress in the floor with some blankets strewn across it. He set her down and knelt next to her. Intense blue eyes peered out from the concealing scarf. "Esther?" His eyes widened in understanding and she hesitantly pulled back the scarf. "Sorry, I forgot that that was on." He muttered.

Father Nightroad!? Esther's heart pounded hard in surprise. She breathed hard and painfully. The shock was just too much – getting beaten and then nearly raped only to be saved by the Father. The edges of her vision flickered and she felt dizzy. A hand supported her. "Esther are you ok?" the Father asked. "Yes…. Sorry, I didn't know it was you." Esther breathed.

"Clearly. Let me get you some water." The Father walked away. Esther looked around quickly. He didn't seem to be doing so well. But then she reflected – neither was she. Esther drank gratefully. "What were you doing back there?" the Father asked. Esther was taken aback. She knew what she was doing, but it hit her – just what could she do? She was only one person. She wasn't a scientist or a warrior. She couldn't stop all of them nor could she reinvent the device to take her back home. The Father suddenly looked embarrassed and then smiled patting her on the shoulder. "Nevermind. I understand. Doing something is better than nothing."

Esther got up and cleaned the blood and dirt off her face. "So where have you been staying?" the Father asked. She looked into the mirror and somebody that had been through hell stared back at her. "Oh, I've been staying at St. Michael's church. I work as a nun's assistant there."

"Dammit, I looked for you there!" the Father exclaimed.

"You did?" Esther asked, surprised.

"They must have thought I looked suspicious" the Father muttered.

"Why would you look suspicious?" Esther queried. The Father looked bewildered and embarrassed. "Well, that's a long story. How about I fill you in tomorrow?" Somehow, Esther was not surprised. It might also explain his current residence if he was considered suspicious. Everything was finally going to be "normal" again and she suddenly felt very tired. It must have shown on her face. "Esther, stay here for the night, it's late and we can talk more tomorrow." Esther reluctantly agreed. She settled down on the far end of the mattress to leave room for the Father. It was improper, but what else was there to do? It wasn't long before sleep took her.

She awoke the next day blanketed in the Father's cassock. Her side and the side of her face pulsed in pain. She rolled her head to the side and saw the Father curled up on the floor next to the bed using the edge of the mattress as a pillow. Apparently she wasn't the only one who felt awkward about sleeping in the same bed. Good. She got up and cleaned the sleep from her face and returned to find the father rummaging through the pockets of his cassock. He finally produced a small metallic object. "Esther, you wouldn't happen to have found something that looks like this?" He turned around and showed her the object."

"No. What is it?" She answered.

"Well, I think it is a part of the machine that sent us to this time and place. If you look at the rounded gold edge here and the wires in the back it makes sense. Also it was found near where I was originally transported in this timeline." the Father explained as he handed her the part. "If we can find the other pieces, we have a good chance of figuring out how to get back." The Father continued.

Esther's heart fell. "I got lost the same day I arrived, and I couldn't make my way back to the place I arrived. I didn't see any parts like that either." She explained disheartedly.

"We will figure it out Esther" Abel reassured patting her on the shoulder.

Together Esther and the Father discussed their somewhat precarious situation. The Father explained to Esther the necessity of keeping a low profile in order to keep from contaminating this timeline, because the consequences could be devastating. The Father also described what he had been able to learn about Dietrich and the female homicides due to the rouge methuselah. Esther didn't have anything to add, so they concluded together that Dietrich and at least one other Methuselah were causing problems. That also brought up the question of Isaak's or the other methuselah's whereabouts.

The Father's face suddenly took on a thoughtful expression "How long have you been here, Esther?" he inquired.

"Almost one month" Esther replied.

"Well, I only arrived a couple weeks ago" the Father said. "And the first Methuselah attack occurred before you arrived. Maybe we are all arriving at different points in time, so Isaak and the rest of the Rosenkreutz have not arrived yet" the Father hypothesized.

Both the Father and Esther agreed that they needed to stop Dietrich and the other methuselah before they changed the timeline and before Isaak arrived. Even though the Father had the data cube and the machine part, he didn't know much about the program or the device itself. It was likely that Isaak would know the most, but there were no clues as to his whereabouts – it was likely he had not arrived yet their guesses about the timeline were correct.

Esther and the Father also decided that it was unlikely that they could stop Dietrich in a single night, but if they could take out the autojaegers and piece together his plan, Dietrich could be captured before he gained too much of a foothold in the city. It was unlikely that they could hold him hostage, but it seemed that the city was at least somewhat equipped to hold criminals with unusual abilities or talents. The Father had discovered that several of these unusual criminals being held in a place called "Arkham," which was as good of a place as any to hold Dietrich until they figured out how to return to their own timeline.

As Esther and the Father were finishing their discussion, Esther reluctantly agreed to return to the church. She understood that it was dangerous for her, but she didn't like that the Father was doing all the work. He had a tendency to get himself into sticky situations. He should have somebody watching his back. If she was not helping, she felt like deadweight to the team. It was still good to stick with the church. She could "borrow" some items for him and help him out. She felt uncomfortable about it, but then if Dietrich and Isaak won, many more might suffer.

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**Thanks to everybody who has reviewed so far... they keep me going. So if you read, please review. **


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